HARROGATE, Tenn. – A first-half meltdown destroyed any chance of victory for the Lady Railsplitters in a 4-0 loss to the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears in South Atlantic Conference women's soccer action on Saturday at the LMU Soccer Complex.
 
Lincoln Memorial (1-6, 1-3 SAC) relinquished four first-half goals, including three over a 16-minute stretch, to drop its third straight game and slip to 1-3 in conference play. Lenoir-Rhyne (4-2-2, 1-1-1 SAC) earned its first SAC win of the season and defeated the Lady Railsplitters for the first time at the LMU Soccer Complex since 2012.
 
The Bears got the scoring going early as Sarah Pullman received a pass from Aqsa Mushtaq in the ninth minute and put the ball away from the left side of the box.
 
The score held at 1-0 for a brief period until Lenoir-Rhyne began its 16-minute scoring binge in the 22nd minute. Helen Ramsey kicked off that flurry and increased the Bears' lead to 2-0 with a shot that caromed off of an LMU defender and into the net, while Kendall Smith netted goals in the 33rd and 39th minutes to make it 4-0 before the whistle had even blown on the first half.
 
The Lady Railsplitters kept the Bears from scoring in the second half, but the damage was already done, as Lenoir-Rhyne cruised to the 4-0 shutout win.
 
Lenoir-Rhyne outshot the Lady Railsplitters 22-13 with a 10-4 edge in shots on goal. In addition to that, L-R had four kicks compared to only one for Lincoln Memorial.
 
Caroline Souza (Sao Paulo, Brazil) led the Lady Railsplitters with four shots and one shot on goal, while Melissa Carpenter (Jacksonville, Fla.), Isa Jara (Miami, Fla.) and Jacquelyn Christoph (Eatonville, Wash.) had two shots apiece.
 
The offensive struggles continued for the Lady Railsplitters, who were blanked for the fourth time this season and the second time in a row. Following Saturday's contest, Lincoln Memorial has now gone 214 consecutive minutes without scoring dating back to Carpenter's 61st-minute goal at Queens on September 17.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Brooke Taylor (White Pine, Tenn.) made the start for the Lady Railsplitters, allowing all four first-half goals while making three saves before giving way to Kathryn Lundy (Pinckney, Mich.) in the second half. Lundy kept the Bears from getting anything else with three saves in 45 minutes of work.
 
The Lady Railsplitters will take to the road for six of their last eight regular-season games, a stretch that begins on Saturday, October 1, when they travel to Wingate, N.C. to take on the Wingate Bulldogs at 2 p.m. Live stats and video links will be available online at www.LMURailsplitters.com.